There is nothing like the prospect of an England v Scotland match to whip up the passions of the Scots and for John Blain and Gavin Hamilton that is now ­irrefutable. Blain has walked out of ­Scotland's Twenty20 squad after an ­altercation with Hamilton, his captain, and has been scrubbed from the squad ahead of tomorrow's World Twenty20 warm-up match against England at Trent Bridge.

To add further embarrassment for the Scots, the row took place at Wormsley, one of the poshest private cricket grounds in England, built in the 1980s by the ­reclusive American billionaire Sir John Paul Getty II after Mick Jagger had taught him to appreciate the noble arts of the politest of games.

Exactly what noble arts, if any, Blain and Hamilton resorted to has yet to be officially confirmed, but Roddy Smith, chief executive of Cricket Scotland, said the pair had clashed after Hamilton had been critical of Scotland's performance during a six-wicket defeat against Bangladesh on Saturday. "There was a team meeting and some harsh words were said," Smith said. "John then decided he wanted to leave the squad. He is a grown man and able to make his own decisions."

The ICC event technical committee, under the chairmanship of the former South African wicketkeeper Dave Richardson, approved Scotland's request to include Warwickshire's Calum MacLeod as a replacement. There is a precedent. Two years ago, Pakistan were allowed a replacement for Shoaib Akhtar who was fined and suspended after he "accidentally'' struck his teammate Mohammad Asif during a practice session. Smith added: "The replacement definitely wasn't made on medical grounds.''

Hamilton, whose brief and inglorious England career amounted to a pair against South Africa 10 years ago, has always been regarded as one of the most easy-going characters in the game and he had vaguely touched on Scotland's tensions. "It has been a tricky couple of months, not qualifying for the World Cup," he said. "We have had a couple of ups and downs in the last couple of days but we are fine- tuning and we are not far away from where we want to be."

"Any England vs Scotland game, no matter what sport, is always a big game. We don't get many games against England and when one comes along the work ethic always goes up. We have probably learned more in the last couple of days than in the last couple of years. People tend to lose sight of what we are up against in the Scottish side.''

Yorkshire are also bound to request details about the stand-off between two of their former players, especially as Blain was a surprise choice last October as Yorkshire's assistant bowling coach.

He is responsible for mentoring Yorkshire's young bowling talent and it was suggested on the county's website that he was viewed as "an ideal long-term replacement'' for their long-serving bowling coach Steve Oldham.